Elegia: A Life in Monochrome NSFW

Meet Dee, a UK based photographer who is better known as elegia. We talked to her about instant photography and what the future holds.

"... I fell in love with the format immediately after shooting my first pack of instant film."

Tell us a bit about yourself?

My name's Dee, more commonly known under my photography guise of elegia. I'm a self-taught photographer from Scotland now based in Manchester, UK. My work is defined by a passion for the imperfect and the flawed. I work with various analog processes and my inspirations stem from numerous sources, including cinema, music, my childhood, and the people I photograph.

"I've never lost my enthusiasm for instant film because I just don't think there's anything else quite like it."

What's the appeal of instant photography within your practice?

I started shooting instant film in late 2011, after I got my first Polaroid camera - a Supercolor 600. By chance, my friend and I were rooting around in a shop in Glasgow and I stumbled upon Impossible film on one of the shelves. That's when my interest began and I fell in love with the format immediately after shooting my first pack of instant film. My first real successes with instant film came when I began photographing other models, and my intention with the films then was to really push the unpredictability of the formulas - often by shooting into direct sunlight. I created a lot of hazy, pastel toned Polaroids set against coastal backdrops in Scotland where I was still living at the time. Since then there have been many different instant films released which have enabled me to experiment more and push my practise into other looks and styles. I've never lost my enthusiasm for instant film because I just don't think there's anything else quite like it. It's also the medium which got me started in photography to begin with, therefore I feel that I owe a lot to it.

What would you like to see next in the instant photography world?

I think we've got a lot to be happy about in the world of instant photography, because there are plenty of options out there when it comes to films. Hopefully that will be something that remains true, and there'll be more made and released. There are lots of instant films that I personally have never had the chance to shoot because they've been discontinued or were before my time, but that's one of the things that I guess makes the medium so special and unique, and why it's treasured by so many.

What's coming up in 2018?

This year I have my first book 'Five Years' being released, which was crowdfunded by some amazingly supportive people via our Kickstarter campaign. It's a book compiling fives years worth of work that I've created with my friend and muse, Faye. It's a project which has taken up all of my time so far this year (and last year), and until it's completed I'm not sure what else will be coming up for me in 2018. Hopefully I can get started on a personal project involving my Dad, which has been something I've wanted to do for quite a while!

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